Demonetisation decision of the century? Claims Minister

Amid chaos over the country with ATMs showing NO CASH board, people fighting with bank staff, it is chaos and anarchy all over the country. Though nobody is questioning the ban if Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes, the way the RBI was totally taken aback by the decision is intriguing the whole country.

Little work has gone into the decision when printing new currency was made. They could not fit into ATM slots that all ATM machines need to be recalibrated now, delaying the implementation of a good decision. And black money holders have less to complain as they have found new ways to make their money white while the middle class is reeling under long queues all over the country.

People are seen swearing in against the banking flip flops and decision roll-back by the government eveyday, calling it a "Tughlaq" reversal of ill-conceived process to implement "good" decisions. It may be recalled that Delhi King Tughlaq in the 15th century transferred the national capital to Aurangabad, centre of the country, but realising later that there was no water enoubh to live for long, shifted back his capital to Delhi.

On his part, describing demonetisation as a decision of the century, MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh said it is a misnomer for the decision as actually, it is the withdrawal of legal tender with reference to Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes and not “demonetization” as such.

It would not only streamline the economy of India towards clean economic management, he said addressing the inaugural function of the 22nd Conference of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), State Anti-Corruption Bureaus (ACBs), Vigilance Bureaus and Economic Offence Wings (EOWs).

Referring to Prime Minister’s announcement to set up an International Centre for Excellence in Investigation, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the country’s Investigation Agencies and Police Forces have very appreciably upgraded themselves to the new requirements and added that “Centralized Technology Vertical” (CTV) worth Rs. 100 crore will be set up for real-time access to CBI.

In the times to come, Dr Jitendra Singh said, lot of time and expertise of CBI and other related agencies will be taken up in dealing with economic offences and cyber crime. For this, he said, what would be required is a multi-agency cooperation at the professional level and citizen -centric approach at the social level. Meanwhile, CBI’s drive against corruption will continue in order to achieve the Union Government’s goal of ‘zero tolerance’ on corruption, he added.